Gray-hooded Gull – NYC

As it is normally found in southern South America (Brazil to Argentina and Chile to Peru), this bird is a long way from home !

It was found fighting with the usual crowd of gulls on the beaches of Coney Island, down in New York City. How it got here is anyone’s guess. But gulls are notorious wanderers. So we’re presuming it just flew into town.

A lady happened to be strolling along the famous boardwalk by the Wonder Wheel and Parachute Ride attractions. She saw that this gull was different so took a picture on her cell-phone. When she shared it with one of the leading birders in the Big Apple, wheels began to turn – quickly.

When I heard about it, I immediately started making plans to get to the city to have a look. The first couple of issues to resolve were that it was truly wild and that it would likely stay around, at least for a few days. It was not wearing any of those rings around its legs which would indicate that it came from a zoo and didn’t have the kind of feather wear that indicated that it was held in captivity. So, as far as that was concerned, that settled that. The bird was good and “countable”. And subsequent sightings suggested that it was comfortable where it was and would likely stick around – at least for the near future. But you can’t take any chances. It could simply fly off the next day.

So I made plans with Jory and Will, and the three of us met up at 5 AM Sunday morning. We arrived and immediately spotted a group of other birders already gathered with cameras and scopes set up – focused on this mega-rarity. As a bonus, my son was already there. What a nice way to meet up.

The next couple of hours were spent watching, photographing, socializing, and sharing stories with strangers (some of them very strange) who came in from the boardwalk to see what was going on.